Cody Snavely
WASHINGTON, DC — The hot and humid east coast, which has not favored the Dodgers their past few times here, strikes again as scattered thunderstorms delayed the game for around four hours, with the first pitch happening at 8:15 pm ET compared to 4:10. The Dodgers coming off a win last night turned to Bobby Miller who dominated the MLB leading Braves his previous start going seven innings allowing only one run on a solo-shot. Miller entered tonight 3-2, 3.20 ERA, and 42 SO since the All-Star Break and would get his second career start against the Washington Nationals.
The Dodgers would start the scoring early, with Max Muncy hitting a sac fly in the top of the first inning to score David Peralta, who led off the game with a single. However, the Nationals would strike right back with a run of their own after a shaky first inning by Bobby Miller. However, Miller, who seemed to have command issues in the first two innings, settled into the game until the 5th inning, where things got interesting. What started off the inning was some “bad blood” between Miller and Nationals third basemen Ildemaro Vargas, where Miller took exception to what seemed to be a “late” better time. After a few pitches inside from Miller, he proceeded to walk Vargas, who would then steal second and advance to third on a wild throw by Will Smith. Bobby Miller seems to struggle with his emotions at times, and runners on could not hold the Nationals from scoring as two would come across this inning on a Luis Garcia RBI single and Dom Smith sac fly. However, Miller would adjust and keep the Nats at bay until a Lane Thomas HR put the Nats up 5-2 in the 7th.
After a sac fly by Kiké, the Dodgers’ offense was cold, wasting multiple scoring opportunities until Max Muncy brought the Dodgers within one with a towering two-run HR. However, the Dodgers’ bid for a comeback was not complete as in the 9th, trailing by one newly acquired bat, Kolten Wong would single in James Outman, who, before that, worked an 11-pitch walk. It was a brand new ballgame, and in the 10th, the Dodgers would take the lead after a Kiké RBI single. However, no one-run lead is safe with the MLB extra inning rules, especially when the Dodgers could not capitalize again with multiple runners on with less than one out.
The Nationals would start their own comeback attempt, scoring off trusted reliever Ryan Brasier in the bottom of the 10th, where old friend Keibert Ruiz tied the game up again. Things only got bleak for LA at this point as the Nationals would have runners at the corners with one out, but out of nowhere, the Dodgers would put a four-person wall on the left side of the infield, bringing in Chris Taylor from the OF and would you believe that it actually worked. However, it would not matter as a wild pitch would get past Smith, leading Michael Chavis to score the winning run.
The Dodgers battled the elements today by playing the waiting game and expect a similar situation tomorrow as rain is yet again in the forecast around game time. While Dave Roberts did not announce a starter for tomorrow’s game, he let the media know that Ryan Yarbrough would get the “bulk” of the innings tomorrow. Dodgers play the final game of a three-game set tomorrow at 1:35 pm ET.
